Belgium

Koninkrijk België Royaume de Belgique Königreich Belgien Kingdom of Belgium
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: Eendracht maakt macht  (Dutch) L'union fait la force  (French) Einigkeit macht stark  (German) "Strength through Unity"
Anthem: "The Brabançonne" (The Song of Brabant)
Location of  Belgium  (orange) – on the European continent  (camel & white) – in the European Union  (camel)
Capital	Brussels 50°54′N 4°32′E
Largest city	Brussels / Antwerp1
Official languages	Dutch, French, German
Government	Federal constitutional monarchy
- King	Albert II
- Prime Minister	Guy Verhofstadt
Independence
- Declared	October 4, 1830
- Recognised	April 19, 1839
Accession to EU	March 25, 1957
Area
- Total	30,528 km² (139th) 11,787 sq mi
- Water (%)	6.4
Population
- 2005 estimate	10,419,000 (76th)
- 2001 census	10,296,350
- Density	339.50 (2005) /km² (29th) 886 /sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2004 estimate
- Total	$316.2 billion (30th)
- Per capita	$31,400 (12th)
HDI (2004)	0.945 (high) (13th)
Currency	Euro (€)2 (EUR)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Internet TLD	.be3
Calling code	+32
1 Brussels is the largest urban area, Antwerp is the largest city with legal status. 2 Prior to 1999: Belgian franc. 3 The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.

The Kingdom of Belgium (Dutch: Koninkrijk België; French: Royaume de Belgique; German: Königreich Belgien) is a country in northwest Europe bordered by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France and is one of the founding and core members of the European Union. Belgium has a population of over ten million people, in an area of around 30,000 square kilometres (11,700 square miles).

Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Romance Europe, Belgium is linguistically divided. It has two main languages: 59% of its population, being 6.18 million people in the north, mainly in the region Flanders, speak Dutch (while Belgians of both major languages often refer to it as Flemish); French is spoken by 40%: 3.29 million in the southern region Wallonia and an estimated 0.88 million in the officially bilingual Brussels-Capital Region or 85-90% of its residents – thus a minority there speaks Dutch, its local language till shortly before Belgium's independence. Less than 1% of the Belgians, around 70,000 live in the German-speaking Community in the east of the Walloon Region. This linguistic diversity often leads to political and cultural conflict and is reflected in Belgium's complex system of government and political history.

Belgium derives its name from the Latin name of the northernmost part of Gaul, Gallia Belgica, named after a group of mostly Celtic tribes, Belgae. Historically, Belgium has been a part of the Low Countries, which also include the Netherlands and Luxembourg and used to cover a somewhat larger region than the current Benelux group of states. From the end of the Middle Ages until the seventeenth century, it was a prosperous centre of commerce and culture. From the sixteenth century until the Belgian revolution in 1830, the area at that time called the Southern Netherlands, was the site of many battles between the European powers, and has been dubbed "the battlefield of Europe" or "the cockpit of Europe". More recently, Belgium was a founding member of the European Union, hosting its headquarters, as well as those of many other major international organizations, such as NATO.